The invention relates generally to firearms, and more particularly, to a barrel for a firearm.
The positional terms that are used in this document, such as xe2x80x9cforward,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9ctop,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cleft,xe2x80x9d etc., relate to a weapon that is positioned in an ordinary manner to fire a horizontal shot, whereby the direction of shooting proceeds forward away from the shooter. The same convention is applicable to statements about direction (xe2x80x9cto the front,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cupwardly,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cto the left,xe2x80x9d etc.).
A weapon of the general type discussed herein, in the caliber of 6.35 mm, is known from the Czechoslovakian pistol, CZ 1922. The following publications also describe relevant weapons: DE 195 01 397 A1; DE 82 32 810 U1; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,773.
In repeating weapons, the cartridges are generally individually conveyed into the cartridge chamber from a storage unit, such as, for example, a magazine or a cartridge belt. For this purpose, they are first slid from the storage unit and into a transfer position, and slid from the transfer position, such as, for example, by the breech into the cartridge chamber.
The section of the weapon barrel containing the cartridge chamber can be developed as an integral component of the barrel or, as is known from revolver weapons, as a separate component. The number of transfer positions is mostly based upon the construction style of the storage unit. There are, for example, staggered magazines with two transfer positions lying next to one another.
The transfer position(s) are not, as a rule, located directly behind the weapon barrel or the cartridge chamber. Instead, they are frequently positioned below the cartridge chamber or displaced laterally relative thereto (such lateral displacements are necessary if several transfer positions lying next to one another are provided). Thus, as a general rule, a cartridge must cover a construction-caused intermediate interval between one transfer position and the cartridge chamber. At the same time, during this movement, which is referred to in the following as the feeding movement, the position of a cartridge that has been displaced too little or to the side must be corrected far enough that it can be introduced into the cartridge chamber. For this, the cartridge must, in addition to a movement in the longitudinal direction of the weapon, additionally carry out a movement transverse to the longitudinal axis of the weapon, that is to say, the cartridge must be displaced and/or swivelled laterally in the transverse direction of the weapon. In many cases, the latter movement results in the cartridge being located in an oblique position when it reaches the weapon barrel or, stated more precisely, when its tip slides into the cartridge chamber. The cartridge is then, through the additional sliding into the cartridge chamber, oriented horizontally.
In order to guide the cartridges on the specific path, guide elements are, in the known repeating weapons, provided on the weapon barrel or, generally, on fixed components of the weapon, such as the so-called xe2x80x9clipsxe2x80x9d on the magazine, for example. In addition, recessed notches on the mount of the cartridge chamber, which are intended to facilitate the threading of the cartridges into the cartridge chamber, are already known. Such recessed notches have the disadvantage that the cartridge casing does not lie against the inner wall of the cartridge chamber at this point. This can lead to xe2x80x9cinflationxe2x80x9d upon the firing of the cartridges, that is to say, to the denting of the casing, if the thickness of the wall at the spot involved is, because of a material error or an inappropriate ammunition, dimensioned too small. The danger of jamming or of a bursting open of the casings in the cartridge chamber, and the jamming or endangering of the gun resulting from such a misfire, is then distinctly greater.
The above-stated, classification-forming weapon barrel of the applicant (DE 195 01 397 A1) has turned out to be a favorable approach. In that approach, a feeding incline for the guiding of the cartridges at least partially bridges over the distance between the cartridge storage unit and the cartridge chamber and is formed as a separate component. The surface of the feeding incline has one or more guiding grooves into which the cartridges are guided from their transfer position into the cartridge chamber. They thereby slide upwardly, in a slightly oblique position, from a lower position (relative to the cartridge chamber), so that their tip xe2x80x9cdipsxe2x80x9d precisely into the cartridge chamber.
This approach has, on the whole, greatly proven its value in actual practice. For a disturbance-free loading process, this approach presupposes a precise manufacture of the feeding incline or of the guiding grooves.